Need help with iron and air in well water

[rustic_philosopher]

Hey All, I desperately need some help on some ongoing issues I can't get a handle on. I have a fairly new home (2 years) and associated water well (3 years).

1) We have an ongoing issue with iron in the water despite having an aeration filter that is supposed to pull iron out of the water. It routinely stains the dishwasher, glasses and toilet bowls. The water is fine otherwise, tastes good and seems safe per testing but we just can't figure out what's going on with the filtering? Is better filtering needed or an entirely different filter approach? The filter used in the well house is a vertical tank that has some media in it that needs to be changed periodically.
2) Likely related to the filter mentioned above, we have micro bubbles I guess in the water (makes the water milky for a few seconds when pulling from the tap till the air settles) from the filter but this creates a problem with the hot water in that we have a really bad problem with the hot water spitting when turned on. My assumption here is that the microbubbles are settling in the hot water heater and thus creating all the air that is causing the spitting. The well guy I have talked to that installed the system is kind of at a loss in terms of what to do but this seems like something that would be super common with people on well water as this kind of aeration filtering is typical from what I understand.

Really hoping folks can help solve these problems or point me to who can help.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Geofd]

Have you had your water tested maybe you need more filtering

 

[rustic_philosopher]

I have had testing on the water which is why we have the filter. We may need more or to replace the media but that doesn't explain the air does it?

 

[wpns]

I had one of these in my previous house. The air is entrained in the water as it flows through the top of the tank, and the oxygen and filter media consolidate (oxidize) the dissolved iron into iron particles that are flushed out during the recharge cycle (which also refills the air bubble in the top of the tank).

Have you done the yearly cleaning of the various parts of the purge cycle valve? Our vendor didn't tell us about the yearly cleaning till at the 3 or 5 year point it wasn't working very well, and then I purchased the parts and did the yearly cleaning, and it worked fine. Not sure how often the media needs to be changed, but it's probably decades.

Your hot water heater spitting may be a red herring, as we never had that issue. I'd suspect galvanic corrosion producing gas, so check your anode, especially if your hot water heater is approaching 10 years of age.

One of the strangest side-effects we had was the fridge water dispenser dripping because the air would come out of solution in the fridge tank and push the water in the dispenser out the hose. Replaced the dispenser valve a couple of times, but since that wasn't the problem, it never solved it. Cutting a sponge to fit in the drip tray worked. 8*)

 

[rustic_philosopher]

This is all fairly new though - the house is barely 2 years old from construction and the media in the filter has been changed at least once in the 3 years since the well was put in.

 

[wpns]

Wow, our media lasted 10 years without a change until we sold the house and was still working fine then.

I'd confirm the yearly maintenance thing, there are a lot of little parts that can get clogged up with rust, and doing that was all our system needed. You probably have a different system, but the operating principals are the same.

 

[rustic_philosopher]

Yeah, first well so not an expert at all but not sure what the make of it. We have had the well serviced by the folks who put it in at least 3 or 4 times since we put it in so it shouldn't be an issue of not enough tlc :/

 

[Geofd]

I have had testing on the water which is why we have the filter. We may need more or to replace the media but that doesn't explain the air does it?

Try a vent you would use on a hot water boiler

 

[Valveman]

Can you post a few picture of the system?

 

[wpns]

We have had the well serviced by the folks who put it in at least 3 or 4 times since we put it in

Right, but did they clean out the iron filter internals and replace any filter parts when they serviced the well?

 

[rustic_philosopher]

They have added something (not media but I want to say calcium) to the system last time. The well goes to the aerator, then iron filter then a pressure tank, then through a micro filter then onto the house. My understanding was the media in the filter was fine but there is something they needed to add that helps the iron bind so it can be filtered out.

No parts were replaced except for changing the micron filter.

Talked to the well guy and we are going to add a softener cause he thinks the calcium added for the filtration process is causing the remaining iron to attach to the calcium and other minerals which then stains inside the house. Also, we are going to seperate the water going for watering the orchard from the iron filter so we don't overload the iron filter during spike usage (we have an orchard and small vineyard we manage).

"Try a vent you would use on a hot water boiler"
We did add a vent for air in the well house but I think thats too early in the system as the cold water isn't much of a problem in terms of microbubbles. Can you elaborate on what you mean for the boiler as im not familiar?

 

[wpns]

Send pictures, something isn't right if they are still futzing with it 3 years later. Don't add a softener just because the well guy doesn't know what he's doing.

Add an automatic air vent _after_ the iron filter and see if that helps, but I still suspect your hot water heater's anode or something.

 

[Aggie83]

On an older well, we had the milky water that would flow a while and then clear up. Turned out to be a hole in the pipe that runs from the bottom of the well to the surface. The well service person inserted new pipe and it was solved.

 

[rustic_philosopher]

On an older well, we had the milky water that would flow a while and then clear up. Turned out to be a hole in the pipe that runs from the bottom of the well to the surface. The well service person inserted new pipe and it was solved.

The milky bit doesn't bother me really cause it does at least make sense to me that aeration of the water is going to put some degree of microbubbles in the water. I just don't know how to get them out after the filter :/

BTW - here are the requested photos:

 

[wpns]

The milky bit doesn't bother me really cause it does at least make sense to me that aeration of the water is going to put some degree of microbubbles in the water. I just don't know how to get them out after the filter :/

You can't, when the water is under pressure there's _dissolved_ air in the water, it's only when you release the pressure that it becomes microbubbles.

Don't see any brand info on the valve assembly on top of the black tank, but that's the part that needs to be disassembled and cleaned out yearly. It's not hard, Ive done it myself, but contact the manufacturer or vendor of that iron filter for parts and instructions.

 

[rustic_philosopher]

Thanks for the info but are you saying that the air issue in the line is due to needing to clean the filter? I have had the air issue since install with new equipment so I don't follow.

 

[wpns]

Thanks for the info but are you saying that the air issue in the line is due to needing to clean the filter? I have had the air issue since install with new equipment so I don't follow.

There are two kinds of air you are talking about:

1) Dissolved air that shows up as microbubbles in a glass of water. Nothing you can do about this, it's a side-effect of how the iron filter works.

2) Hot water spitting when turned on. _I_ would look at other things that can create gas bubbles in your hot water heater, like conductive water eating your tank through electrolysis (check your anode), or some other effect. I didn't have that problem with my iron filter, so it may be unrelated.